Automatic phonographic apparatus



Nov. 1.7, 1931 D. s. SWARTHOUT ET AL AUTOMATIC PHONOGRAPHIC APPARATUS Filed May 25, 1928 7 Sheets-Sheet 1 J72 2 677. to P5. jazfzd 5:71:00? thou z,

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Nov. 17, 1931. 11.5. SWARTHOUT ET AL 1,832,797

' AUTOMATIC PHONOGRAPHIC APPARATUS Filed May 23, 1928 7 Sheets -Sheet 2 Nov. 17, 1931. D. s. SWARTHOUT ET AL 1,832,797

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Filed May 25, 1928 Nov. 17, 1931. v 'DQ. s. SWARTHOUT ET AL 1,832,797

AUTOMAT I C PHONOGRAPHI C APPARATUS Filqd May 23. 1928 '7 Sheets-Sheet 4 v II II fil 26972-60715: (David .5. Swarthou t,

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Nov. 17, 1931; D. s. SWARTHOUT ET AL AUTOMATIC PHONOGRAPHIC APPARATUS Filed May 25, 1928 7 Sl'aeets-Sheet. 5

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D. s. SW'ARTHOUT ET AL 1 1, 32,797

AUTOMATIC PHONOGRAPHIC APPARATUS Filed May 23, 1928 7 Sheets-Sheet 6 thoat.

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Nov. 17, 1931. s, sw u ETAL 1,832,797

AUTOMATIC PHONOGRAPH-IC APPARATUS Filed May 23. 192.8 7 Sheets-Sheet 7 Patented Nov. 17,1931

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PATENT OFFICE DAVID S. SWARTHOUT AND PAUL H. SMITH, JR., 0] EVANS'TON, ILLINOIS AUTOMATIC PHONOGRAPHIC APPARATUS Application filed May as,

clude the playing of a record, and to thereafter restore the record to the idle position in preparation for the delivery,,playmg and restoration of a number of records composing the group or series.

The machine may be adjusted to play in succession the entire group or series of records, or any fraction thereof, or it may beadjusted to selectively play one or more records from the group. The invention is designed with a view of greatly simplifying the mechanism required 1n the automatic delivery and restoration of the records to and from-the playing position, and is also designed with a view of promptly disengaging and'restoring the record immediately after the same has been played, which playing period may be of varying length in different records. 7

In order to effect the prompt restoration of the record to idle position, independently of the length of time for playing, it is necessary that the means for dlsengaging and restoring the record shall be under the control of the tone arm, which swings inwardly across the and in the present case the disengagement and restoration are efiectedas soon as the tone arm reaches its innermost position at the terminus of the record line, regardless of.

the number of rotations of the turntable, and

regardless of the timeconsume'd in playing.

; This method of control is, therefore, much be the maximum required in superior to one which automatically disengages and restores the record inany'definite time relation to other portions of the mechanism, since such arrangement necessitates that all records remain in the playing position during a definite interval, which must the playing of the longest record in the series.

Further objects and details of the invention will appear from a description thereof, in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein,-

. is elevated to 1928. Serial 1N0. 279,952.

A e Figure 1 is a front elevational view of the mechanism forming the subject matter of the invention; s

Fig. 2 is a side elevational view of the mechanism;

3 is an enlarged longitudinal vertical sectlonal view corresponding substantially to the line 3-3 of Fig. 2, and showing the mechanism in position before the turntable playing position; Fig. 4 is a longitudinal sectional view similar to Fig. 3, showing the positions of the mechanism after the turntable has been elevated to playing position;

F 1g. 5 is a horizontal sectional view taken 7 through the housing, and showing in plan the operating mechanism of the device, the section corresponding substantially to the line 5-5 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 6 1s a transverse sectional view through the housing, corresponding substantially to the line 6-.6 of Fig. 3, portidns o the housing being broken away;

F1g. is fragmentary enlarged top plan new of thatjportion of the mechanism inclu'dlng the tone arm and record, portions of the construction being broken awa Fig. 8 is an enlarged horizontal sectional view taken through the base portion of the tone arm, and corresponding substantially to the line 8'8 of Fig. 9;

F1g. 9 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view taken through the tone arm mechamsm;

,Fig. 10 is an enlarged detailed view'of an operating lever associated with the tone arm for restoring the mechanism to initial position after a complete cycle of operations;

Fig. 11 is an enlarged detailed view showing the cam surface carried by the tone arm ever;

Fig. 12 is an enlarged detailed view of a portion of the selecting mechanism; v

Fig. 13 is a transverse vertical sectional view correiponding substantially to the line 95 1313 of ig 12;

Fig. 14 is an enlarged detailed view of a portionof the selecting mechanism; and

Fig. 15 is a top plan view of one. of the delivery arms, showing. the manner of mount mo ing, the standard upon which the arm is mounted being shown in horizontal section, the full line position of the arm corres onding to playing position, while the otted fragment indicates the inoperative position of the deliveryarm.

The record feeding mechanism is mounted upon a base 10 provided at one end with an upstanding arcuate standard 11 provided in its inner edge with a plurality of notches 12, each of which constitutes the bearing for a swinging feeding arm 13, which at its outer end carries a record supporting ring 14lwhich is of a size to supportand feed a standard record. The record supporting ring 14 is notched to afford a ledge 15' upon which the rim of the record is supported. The arm 13 at its opposite end terminates in an outwardly extending finger 16 which is preferably slightly ofiset with respect to the arm 13, and the arm is pivoted'within the arcuate standard by a pin 17 which asses through one of the journal notches in t e 1nner edge of the standard.

Each of the arms composing the entire group is pivoted ona center which is angularly disposed with respect to the next succeeding one, the pivots for the entire group being in arcuate relation to one another, conformable to the curvature of the supporting standard, so that each of the arms, when actuated, will swing inwardly to the center or operating position without interference from any of the others.

The operating position is that occupied by the turntable 18 which is mounted-upon a vertically movable rotatable spindle 19, so that when an individual record is swung to operating position above the turntable the turntable may be lifted with appropriate mechanism presently to be described, by lifting the record out of and above the position in which it is supported by the feeding arm which is the playing position'for the record.

The spindle 19 is journalled through a head 20 at the end of an arm 21, which merges into the base of the standard, being integrally formed therewith; and the spindle has fixed- -ly mounted thereon a large driving pulley wheel 22 which carries a belt 23 passing over a drive wheel 24 on a motor 25 which is running to constantly drive the turntable.

The spindle 19. carries a clutch collar 26 associated with a driving clutch element 27 which coactswith a driven clutchelement 28, which clutch element 28 is fast with a worm 29 slidably mounted upon the lower end of the spindle 19, which is slidably mounted within a journalled bracket 30. When the spindle is in a lowered position, the clutch elements are in mesh with one another to efi'ectrotation of the worm and impart a driving movement to mechanisms presently to be escribed; but when the spindle is elevated to liftthe turntable into playing po- 'movement of the wire through the tube.

sition, the clutch elements will be disconnected, so that there will be no transmission of motion during the playing period.

Each'of the swinging arms is actuated by means of a stiff flexible wire connection 31, which at its outer end is connected to the end of the finger 16 and passes through an aperture 32 in the arcuate standard and into a flexible tube 33, the end of which is fixedly socketed into the aperture 32 which permits y drawing on any selected wire of the series, a corresponding arm can be swung from its idle position inwardly to the playin position immediately above the turnta le, at which point it will be stopped by contact with a stop finger 3 1 which is mounted upon the bracket arm 21, and which limits the movement of the arm when it arrives at aposition immediately above the turntable.

All of the wires 31 are led around behind the group of record feeding arms, and. each wire makes connection with one of a series of blocks 350, elidably mounted between rods 351. Each block pivotally carries a draw rod 35, the forward end of which is provided with a heel 36, and the'rear end of which is pressed upwardly by a spring 352. In the present instance, ten operating arms are shown and ten draw rods are provided, and in order to actuate any selected one of the ten draw rods, the parts are arranged so that the entire group of heels 36 will stand in aligned relation when the feeding'arms are in idle position, and in this position each of the ten heels will lie immediately above a groove or channel 37 formed in the end of a slide plate 38. When any selected heel is thrown downwardly it will register with the groove, so that thereafter a movement of the slide plate 38 will carry with it whichever of the draw rods has been elevated into engaging position. The slide plate thus becomes a common actuating mechanism'for any selected one of the arms.

In order to eifect a successive lifting of the heels, the following mechanism is provided: The cam drum 39 is provided immediately above the forward ends of the group of ten draw rods, which drum, as shown, is ribbed to afford intermediate grooves which receive the'ends of the draw rods 35, andeach groove Hill is provided with a notch 40, the notches of drum is actuated one step at a time through the action of a ten-toothed ratchet wheel 45' I which isrigidly associated with the drum, and rotation is imparted to the ratchet wheel by means of a dog 46 which is ivoted at its upper end to a lever 47 pivote to abracket 48, a spring 49 being provided to hold the lever in advanceposition. The lower end 50 of the lever is adapted to be swung forwardly by engagement with the worm 29. The worm wheel is mounted upon a shaft 53 upon which is freely mounted a cam 54 which lies adjacent to the face of the worm wheel. The cam drum 39 may be manually rotated independently of the automatic mechanism by means of a knob 390 aflixed to the shaft carrying the drum.

The cam 54 is of truly circular formation it throughout approximately half of itsperiphery, and is elevated onthe side 55. At

1 the extremity of elevation, the cam is shouldered to afford a hook 56 adapted to engage with and pick up a pin 57 extending outjwardly from the sides of the worm wheel,

so that with the worm 'wheelmoving in a clockwise direction the cam will be caught at a predetermined period in the rotation and rotated with the worm wheel. The cam coacts with'a clutch-lever arm 58 which is pivoted to a bracket 59, the free end of the clutch lever arm being-bifurcated to engage the clutch collar 26, so that when the high point on the cam arrivescin' proper posi tion toengage the clutch lever arm, the arm will be lifted,which in turn lifts the clutch V collar and with it the turntable, which is pletely elevate the turntable to playing posithus elevated into playing position. It will be observed, however, that the first eifect of this-lifting movement will be to separate the clutch elements and thus stopthe driving of the worm wheel through the worm 59, and in these circumstances it is necessary to provide means for continuing the movement of the cam which will be required to comtion. This additional movement is imparted through the action ofsprings 60, which are secured to a cross head 61 on a rod 62which is slidably mounted in a pivoted guide mem ber 63. The cross head is by a pin 64 so disposed t at when the cam has been positively moved past the dead center position the tension of the springs will cause a furthermovement of the cam,

which will effect the final lifting of the turn-,

table standard.

The extreme end of the arm 58 embraces a-vertical draw rod 65 provided Witha head 66 so disposed that when the free end of the arm 58 has been ultimately lifted to its final position by the high point of the cam, the arm will engage the head '66 and actuate a bell cranklever 67 pivoted toa bracket 68. The lower arm of the 'bell crank engages the end of a stop pin' 69 which is slidably entered through the journal 30 for the turnwar .hold the spindle elevated, while the arm 59 ivoted to the cam table spindle, the. arrangement being such that when the turntable spindle has been lifted to its highest position it will lie above the pin 69; so that the latter is thrust inly beneath the end of the spindle to falls back upon the low portion of the cam.

This holds the turntable in elevated position during the entire playing period.

The tone arm 70 is s'wivel'ly mounted upon the frame in such position that when the record is-lifted by the elevation of the turntable, the needle of the tone arm will engage the outermost portion of the record line and travel inwardly in the, usual manner during the playing period. A lever 660 is provided, carried by and movable with the tone arm 70, which has a cam 670-.adapted to engage the head 66 andforce .it downwardly gradually until the playing of the record is completed, atwhichttiine the pin 69 is retracted and the turntable lowered through gravity,

releasing the record from the needle. When this occurs, the tone, arm will be free and will be swung outwardly by a spring 700' to its normal position in preparation for the playing of t ienext succeeding record.

Inorder to actuate the slide plate 38, the

plate at its lower end is provided with a slotted heel 71 which coacts with a lever 72 provided with a point 73 engagedv within the slot in'the heel. The-u per end of the -le've'r is pivoted to a bracket 4, and the lever is actuated by means of a link 75 pivoted tothe worm wheel and adapted to be moved back and forth thereby. The arrangement 'is such that when the worm wheel is being actuated by the worm-in clutched relation with the turntable spindle, the draw. platewill be moved either by being'drawn back or thrust forward, as the case maybe, to

actuate the record feeding arm during this interval, while during the playing period the clutch elements will be separated so that the draw plate will stand in stationary relation during the playing interval.

The motor canbe set in operation, if desired, by means of gun-actuated mechanism of any well known character, which forms no part of the present invention, and withithe motor in operation, and with the turntable lowered to its normal or non-playing posithe draw bar-will pull with it the operating With the breaking of the clutch, the cam 54 will be swung around by the tension of the springs 60, and during the movement of the cam the turntable will be elevated to its ultimate position, which lifts the record away from the ring support on the arm and brings it into engagement with the needle.

The turntable, bein constantly rotated by direct connection wit the motor, will cause the record to rotate during the playing interval, until the continued in-swinging of the tone arm brings it into a position to depress the vertical draw rod through suitable connections, which depression of the draw rod retracts the pin 69 which supports the foot of the turntable spindle, thereby allowing the spindle to fall by gravity. This effects a reclutching of the clutch elements and initiates the return portion of the cycle of the worm wheel, during which movement the common draw plate 38 will be thrust forwardly, imparting a thrust to be engaged therewith, and this thrust movement of the wire will swing back and restore the record feeding arm with the record carried thereby to its idle position.

During the restoring movement of the record arm, the pin 57 on the worm wheel will engage the lower end of the lever 47' and impart a thrust thereto, which through the dog.

.46 effects aone-tenth rotation of'the cam drum, and thereby causes the next succeeding draw bar to engage vwith t ie common draw plate in preparation for the playing of the next record. a

We claim: a y r 1. In mechanism of the class described, the combination of a turntable, a spindle carrying the turntable and mounted for rotation and; vertical reciprocation, a plurality'of superposed record feeding arms-each separately pivoted at a point distant from the turntable the pivoted axes progressively va'r 'ng with respect to the operative plane of t e turntable and each axis being properly oriented to permit the associated record feeding arm'to swing inwardly to a position immediatelyabove the turntable to bring its record into concentric relation to the turn-" table, means for raising and lowering the turntable spindle and means for rotating the same, connections associated with each of the record feeding arms for swinging a selected arm to playing position and thereafter restoring the arm to idle position, the means for raisin and lowering the turntable and for swinging the arms being associated to first swing a selected arm inwardly to playing position, thereafter to elevate the turntable to deposit the record thereon, thereafter to lower the turntable, and finally to swing back the record feeding arm to idle position.

2. In mechanism of the class described, the combination of a turntable, a spindle carrying the turntable and mounted for rotation and vertical reciprocation, a plurality of superposed record feeding arms each separately pivoted at a point distant from the turntable the pivoted axes progressively varying with respect to the operative plane of the turntable and each axis being properlyoriented to permit the associated record feeding arm to swing inwardly to a position immediately above the turntable to bring its record into concentric relation to the turntable, means for raising and lowering the turntable spindle and means for rotating the same, connections associated with each of the record feedingarms for swinging a selected arm to playing position and thereafter restoring the arm to idle position, means for actuating said arm swinging means in successive progression, the means for raising and lowering the turntable and for swinging the arms being associated to first swing a selected arm inwardly to playing position, thereafter to elevate the turntable to deposit the record thereon, thereafter to lower the turntable, and finally to swing back the record feeding arm to idle position.

3. In mechanism of the class described, the combination of a turntable, a spindle carrying the turntable and mounted for rotation and vertical reciprocation, a plurality of superposed record feeding arms each separately pivoted at a point distant from the turntable the pivoted axes progressively varying with respect to the operative plane of the turntable a'nd each axis being properly oriented to permit the associated record feeding arm to sw'inginwardly to a position immediately above the turntable to bring its record into concentric relation to the turntable, means for raising and lowering the 1 turntable spindle and means for rotatin the same, connections associated with eac of the record feeding arms for swinging a selected arm to playing position and thereafter restoring the arm to idle position, means for actuating'said arm swinging means in success1ve.progress1on,the means for raising and 'lowering the turntableand for swinging the spindle, clutch elements carried by said spindle and adapted to be engaged when the turntable is lowered, driving elements adapted t6 be actuated when the clutch elements are engaged, means actuated by said driving elements for initially lifting the. spindle to disengage theclutch elements, s ring means. adapted thereafter toim art a a1 upward movement to the turntab e to bring the turntableto playing position, and record feeding means ada ted to deliver a record into position to beeposited upon the turntable when the turntable is elevated. f r

r 5. In mechanism of thecla'ss described, the combination'with 'a turntable, of means for presenting a plurality of records individually to said turntable, said means including: a support, and a plurality of superposed arms pivotally mounted on said support, each arm aving a record holding portion, said arms bein individually swingable each onanindivi ually computed axis to present the rec: 0rd holding means to a common position with respect to said turntable. v

6. In mechanism of; the character described, the combination with a turntable,

of'means for presenting a plurality of records 1 individually to said turntable, said means including: a support, a..plurality of superposed arms pivotally mounted on said support, eacharm having a record holding portion, said arms'being individually swing-4 yable each on an individually computed axis to present the record holding means to a common position with respect tosaid turntable, and means for selectively operating said arms, includin an extension on each arm, and

a flexible mem r conn said extension. and adapted to be 'oved in osite d1rec-' 'tions. v 7. In mechanism of the character de-v scribed, the combination with a turntable, of

- actuatingmeans; a lurality of individually movableelements a apted to separately present a record to a common position with respect to'said-turntable; and selecting means including: a plurality of bars, and a slide plate, said, slide plate being connected-with said actuating means, and said bars being normally urged in a direction to engage said slide plate,a roller co-operating with saidbars to maintain the same out of engagement with said slide plate, said roller being provided with a plurality of recesses arranged in different positions for permitting-individual connection of said bars with said. slide plate when said roller is rotating, and connections between said bars and said record carrying elements. I p

8. In mechanism of the character despect to said turntable; an

spindle; a device for elevating and lowering scribed, the combination with a turntable, of actuating means; a lurality of individually movable elements adllpted' to separately present a record to a common ositionwith reselecting means including: a plurality 'of bars, and a slide plate, said slide plate being connected with ing elements; and means for autpmatica y rotating said roller.

' 9. In mechanism of the character described, the combination with a turntable having an axially movable spindle, of driving means; clutch elements co-operating with said spindle and driving means; a device for disconnecting -said-clutch elements and partially elevatin device including yielda le means for further elevating said turntable when the drive is" disconnected; a latch for maintaining the turntable in elevated position; and a lever for trippin saidlatch to said turnta le.

10. In mechanism\ of the characterdescribed, the combination with a turntable having an axially -m vable spindle; a tone arm adapted to co-ogerate with said turntable in one position and being. spaced therefrom in another position; a plurality of-pivoted arms, each having a record carrying portion and adapted to individually present a record in a common position above said turntable, drive means, andclutch elements between said drive-means and the turntable said turntable, including a cam operated arm for disconnecting said clutch elements and lifting said turntable, and includinga latch automatically engageable for supporting said turntable in elevated position; selecting slide plate, said slide plate being connected to said drive means, said bars being normally urged toward engagement with said slide said turntable, said 9 permit lowering o'f 11 means; lncludmg a plurality of bars and a 5 ment of said tone arm for trippin said latch to permit lowering of said turnta 1e and reengagement of the drive means, and conday of May,

nections between said bars and said plurality ofrecord carr 'ng arms.

n In witness t at we claim the foregoing, we have hereuntel sggscribed our names this 16th 9 DAVID S. SWARTHOUT. PAUL H. SMYTH, JR. 

